


okay

by dutchydoescoke



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 13:26:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9387176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dutchydoescoke/pseuds/dutchydoescoke
Summary: She’d say she doesn’t know what she’s doing here, but it’s a lie, because she’s here to talk, and god only knows when he’ll be released for her to talk to otherwise.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuse, this is terribly written, and I really just wanted Maia and Jace talking after 2x03, okay? Okay.
> 
> Warnings for mentions of canon-typical violence and racism.

She talks to Luke, who talks to some Shadowhunter friend of his, and that gets her a trip to the City Of Bones. She’d say she doesn’t know what she’s doing here, but it’s a lie, because she’s here to talk, and god only knows when he’ll be released for her to talk to otherwise.

Jace’s various cuts from the bar window are scabbed over and starting to heal when she gets there and he’s sitting with his back against the wall, staring into space. It’s not until she clears her throat that he looks up at her. The entire hassle to get here is made worth it by the surprise on his face.

“I’m guessing you didn’t expect to see me again,” she says, leaning against the bars of his cell and smiling as nicely as she can manage. It’s not much, because Gretel’s death still _hurts_ , and Jace still had a hand in it somehow. But between Luke’s explanation and Jace’s frantic promises that she could kill him if he could manage to save his brother, Maia’s feeling generous. “Is your brother okay?”

“Yeah, thank you.” Jace looks exhausted. Maia doesn’t want to feel sympathy for him, she really doesn’t, but he looks pathetic. And she’s more than familiar with manipulative people in her lifetime, so she gets it, at least a little. “I’m sorry for Gretel. You can still kill me, you know. I wasn’t joking.”

“You’re assuming the Clave isn’t going to find you guilty and handle you themselves,” she says, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow. She knows it makes her look like a curious puppy when she does that, which is half the reason she does it. Judging by Jace’s amused expression, it’s working.

The memory of the other night still rankles, chasing Jace halfway across the city for vengeance she still feels cheated out of and being stopped by a Shadowhunter who could have been less of a dick when she stopped Taito from attacking Jace. The bone-deep rage she’d felt still creeps up on her sometimes, and looking at a living, breathing Jace does little to assuage that when Gretel’s barely cold in the ground.

“The Clave won’t outright sentence me to death. They’re more subtle about it.” Jace drops his gaze back to the floor and Maia feels the rage start to abate at the guilty look on his face. “I know it doesn’t help, but I feel like an idiot for not trying to save Gretel.”

“Hindsight is perfect vision. And no, it doesn’t help. But it means something that you recognize how badly you screwed up,” Maia says, ducking her head to see Jace better around the bars. “Why’d you do it in the first place?”

“Clary. She’s my—my sister,” Jace says and Maia chooses to ignore the way he trips over the word ‘sister’. That sounds like the kind of drama that only gets explained in a three-beer conversation. Possibly a margarita or two. They’re both sober and Jace is in Shadowhunter jail, so she ignores it and resolves to ask later. “If I didn’t help with Gretel, Clary would have been forced to go. She was raised as a mundane, doesn’t have much training, and would have gotten herself killed trying to help Gretel.”

“So you did it to protect her.” It’s not a question but Jace nods anyway, and the rage slips farther and farther away the longer the explanation rattles around in her head. She can’t forgive, she won’t forgive, but she can understand a little.

When she says as much, Jace looks at her, surprise all over his face, and Maia lets it go. She has no doubts that Jace has every Shadowhunter prejudice implanted in his head since birth, especially with what Luke told her about Valentine, but she’s tired of being angry and Jace probably needs a friend.

“You owe me a beer after all of this, though,” she says, because he does. If only for destroying half her bar in a fight. Jace huffs out a laugh and nods.

“Sounds good. Maybe a different bar, though? I don’t think your friends want to see me right now.”

“They do, as long as it’s in a body bag.” She smirks, makes sure he sees it. “Could always come to the Halloween party. I’m sure Luke could loan you the bag.”


End file.
